Calif. governor wants out-of-state inmates back

SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) — Gov. Jerry Brown wants to end a 6-year-old program that has sent thousands of California inmates to private prisons in other states. But he may not get the chance unless he can persuade federal judges to revise a court order that limits the number of inmates the state can hold.

The governor's office must submit a plan to the federal court by midnight Monday outlining how California will meet the court's inmate population cap by year's end.

Brown wants to return the nearly 9,000 inmates to California over the next four years to save the state roughly $300 million annually.

His proposal relies on federal judges allowing the state to keep an additional 6,000 inmates above the court-ordered cap, something the judges have not been willing to do so far.